


Hold

by ConfusedMuse



Series: Reapertale [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reapertale, Babies, F/M, Fluff, Inspired By Tumblr, Magic, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-16 19:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5838883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfusedMuse/pseuds/ConfusedMuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death is afraid that the only thing he can bring into this world is pain, even if it's a child of Life.</p><p>[Inspired by Reapertale conversations from renrink on Tumblr!]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KarenR2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarenR2/gifts).



> This was inspired by the conversation on Tumblr about what a Reapertale Soriel baby would be like! I meant to have this done a while ago, but maybe it was always meant to be finished on Valentine's Day... So! Happy Valentine's Day to everyone reading this! I hope you enjoy this bit of fluff!

He was still scared.

Sans had lost track of how many times Toriel had reassured him that everything would be fine, but that didn’t stop fear from creeping over him anyway. She’d done this before—she knew what it took to mold the pieces of two deities’ essences together and create another being—but it wasn’t the process or her confidence that Sans distrusted. He just couldn’t get the thought out of his mind that somehow what he _was_ would ruin it.

He kept thinking about the spark of pain that passed between them every time they touched, and wondered if that was the only kind of child Death could create—a being that existed in pain. Sans didn’t know what he would do if that turned out to be true. Toriel had looked so happy when he’d agreed without thinking—well, he had been thinking, but only about her happiness. Sans knew how much it would mean to her to have another child in the deeper sense of the word. Not one of the millions that she’d shared a piece of her magic with, but one that would carry her essence and walk the immortal plane with her.

When Sans started to consider the possibility that a child with would only add to her suffering, it almost paralyzed him. He hated it.

But even more than that—Sans hated himself more for still wanting to try.

So when he took her hand that day, he couldn’t stop his own from shaking.

“You’re keeping something from me,” Toriel said. Sans didn’t look up at her, choosing to stare at their hands instead as the familiar pain of contact faded into her warmth.

She squeezed his hand and leaned in. “Sans,” she whispered. “Please talk to me.”

He took a breath and looked up at her. The setting sun caught the edges of her fur, making her glow. She looked at him with such concern that his ribcage felt like it was squeezing in on him. Sans shook his skull. “it’s nothing,” he said.

Toriel sighed, closing her eyes and placing her forehead against his. This time the pain was only a tiny shock—their magic from the opposite ends of the Cycle blended together the longer they remained in contact. “If it worries you, then it is not nothing,” Toriel said.

Sans leaned back against her, waiting another moment before speaking. “i don’t want our child to hurt,” he said.

Toriel frowned. “Why would they?” she asked.

“every time i touch you, i hurt you, even if it’s just for a second,” Sans continued. He held Toriel’s hand tighter. “what if… because of who i am, what if that’s all our child will be able to feel?”

Toriel pulled back from him as a breeze swept through the garden, forcing Sans to stumble forward. Another patch of dead brown grass appeared underneath his feet.

He looked at it and laughed. “see, tori?” he said. “everything i touch just—”

He was cut off as Toriel’s arms wrapped around him, lifting him into the air. She hugged him to her chest, Sans wrapping his arms around her neck so that he could still look at her. “What do you feel right now, Sans?” she asked.

“uh…you?” he answered.

She smiled. “Be more specific,” she said.

Sans glanced between her face and her chest. “um… you sure about that?” he asked.

Toriel threw her head back and laughed, the sound filling the garden. Sans found himself laughing too. Her smile was infectious.

She caught her breath and looked back at him, still smiling. “Perhaps I am the one who needs to be more specific,” she said. “Is it painful to touch me right now?”

“no,” he said, “but—”

“So what does it feel like?” she prompted.

Sans moved his hands down her arms, feeling her fur. “warm,” he said. “and soft.”

“Does it hurt?” she asked, her smile arching on one side.

“no,” Sans admitted.

She kissed the top of his skull, her touch soft and light. “I cannot promise that our child will never know pain,” she said. “But I am sure that it will never come from you.”

Toriel set him back down on the grass, but he refused to let go of her arms when she tried to stand back up. “Sans?” she asked.

He reached for her hand and squeezed it. His own weren’t shaking anymore.

* * *

Their child was perfect. They were beautiful.

And he wasn’t going to hurt them.

Sans watched as Toriel rocked the white bundle, singing a song to their baby. He could see them moving inside the blanket, kicking tiny feet against the fabric. He could hear their soft coos in response to their mother’s voice. They weren’t in pain.  

Just knowing that there was enough of their mother in them to cancel out whatever his magic could have done was enough.

Finishing her song, Toriel looked up at him with a soft smile and held the baby out towards him. Sans shook his skull, backing away. He wasn’t going to ruin this moment by touching them. Toriel laughed. “They are your child too,” she said. “You will not harm them, Sans.”

He could see in her eyes that she believed what she said without any doubt. Sans wished he could believe in himself half as much as Toriel believed in him.

He reached out a hand and the bundle squirmed, making a noise. Sans pulled back out of surprise—it wasn’t as though he’d never heard a baby coo before, but this was different. He didn’t want to do anything wrong.

Sans reached out again, the barest of fingertips brushing across his child’s cheek. They yawned and rolled over, nuzzling into his hand.

There was no pain to the touch between them. All Sans could feel was their warmth, just like their mother’s.

He looked up. Toriel was smiling at him. “See?” she said. “I told you.”

Sans tried to answer, but couldn’t. His voice had vanished in the same moment that the weight of his fear had lifted away. Sans stroked he baby’s face, feeling their warm breath on his palm.

_He could hold his child._

Toriel passed the baby over to him, whispering to him how to support their head and hold them against him. The baby squirmed when Sans took his hand away for a moment, their face bunching up before letting out a cry. Sans panicked, starting to rock them, but Toriel laughed.

“She didn’t want you to let go,” Toriel said.

Shifting the baby onto one arm, Sans held out his hand towards them—and small hands grabbed at his fingers. The baby settled down as they pulled Sans’s hand against their tiny chest, but their grip didn’t lessen.

“heh, she doesn’t know when to loosen up,” Sans said. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from them.

Toriel hummed in response, and Sans felt her wrap an arm around him. The moment of contact between them felt like static electricity now. Just a slight shock and nothing more.

“Are you still afraid?” Toriel whispered.

Sans leaned into Toriel’s arm, watching the baby’s chest rise and fall. “not anymore,” he answered.


End file.
